This powerful history describes the daily progression of the Ebola outbreak that swept across West Africa and struck Europe and America from December 2013 to June 2016. A case study on a massive scale, it follows the narratives of numerous patients as well as the journey of physicians and scientists from discovery to action and from tracking to containment. The unfolding story reveals ever-shifting complexities such as the varied paths the infection took from country to country, the multiple responses of community members, and the occurrence of flare-ups when the outbreak was seemingly over. The book’s finely-documented present-tense reporting records key facts, events, and observations, including:

Early attempts to understand and contain the virus and curb practices contributing to its spread

Medical, governmental, and public responses, from local education programs to global efforts

Communication and conflict between healthcare workers and communities

Social and economic outcomes of Ebola in the affected nations

Ebola remains incurable, although a vaccine is now available. For members of the medical community, public health officials, medical historians, scholarly professionals, and interested laypeople, A Day-by-Day Chronicle of the 2013-2016 Ebola Outbreak makes starkly clear what we can learn from these events not only for future outbreaks of Ebola, but also for the emergence of as-yet unknown diseases.

Stephan Bullard is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. He studies notable disasters. His previous books include The Silver Bridge Disaster of 1967 and Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima: Curse of the Nuclear Genie.

“Bullard’s book does contribute to the current discussion of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in that it is the most comprehensive timeline of how this global disaster was managed, both locally and by international responders. The inclusion of the World Health Organization’s cumulative case and death reporting is valuable for researchers making comparisons about how Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone each managed and eradicated this outbreak of the disease.” (Sabine Franklin, Medicine, Conflict and Survival, August, 2018)